New Maps readers,
“Deindustrial” and “high-tech” may appear to be mutually exclusive terms. Even
I thought so. But as I began making the selections for this issue, I discovered
that not just one but several stories had arrived that meant I needed to
revisit that assumption. After all: the future may rhyme with the past in some
pretty notable ways, but it won’t look just the same. With the technology that
exists here and now in the real world, people will go interesting directions in
the deindustrial future, some of which might even look awfully futuristic. Not
to mention that the people currently inventing tech that’s higher than anyone
needs haven’t started running out of buyers yet, and who knows what strange
devices will arise before the fossil fuel bubble’s pop finally reaches
the workshops of the rich, insulated as they are against the real world?